The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, Myers FlatPictures: BRENDAN McCARTHY

VIDEO: Leigh Sharp

It’s a little known fact that a unique, world-first Buddhist village is under construction just outside Bendigo.

On the site of the old Sandhurst Town tourist attraction in Myers Flat a long term vision is slowly taking shape.

Many would know of the Atisha Centre, a place of Buddhist teaching, which has existed for three decades and the monastery which was built 10 years ago.

Others may be familiar with the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, a colossal, white monument which began construction in 2003.

But very few would know that plans for the 210-acre site also include 60 houses, an aged care facility, a primary school, hotel, park, restaurant, museum, solar farm and community vegetable garden.

In the words of site owner and devoted Buddhist Ian Green, it will be a “little Buddha city” and a project of this scale has not been done anywhere else in the world.

How did such a project come to be here?

Australia, not to mention Bendigo, is hardly the geographical or spiritual centre of Buddhism.

Ian Green and his wife are Buddhists and they moved to Bendigo in 1981.

Ian Green converted to Buddhism several decades ago after a life-changing trip to India. He moved to Bendigo with his wife in the early 1980s.

The Greens owned and ran Sandhurst Town but progressively donated more land for the development of a Buddhist community.

Shortly after the establishment of the Atisha Centre a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, Lama Yeshe, visited and had a vision of a Buddhist community that catered for people’s spiritual, educational and social needs.

This is a replica of the Jade Buddha that has been touring the world and raising revenue for the construction costs of the Great Stupa. Eventually it will be placed in the Great Stupa, but not for at least five years.

It is now back in the USA until mid-2016, then it will go to South Korea. It will tour for another five years, at least, before it reaches its final destination inside the Great Stupa.

Not only is the international tour an effective revenue raising exercise but it is also establishing Bendigo as a serious Buddhist attraction.

Mr Green estimates that eight million people have seen the Jade Buddha.

“And most of those people who go to see it know, or we tell them, the Jade Buddha will eventually end up inside the Great Stupa in Bendigo,” he said. “Of course they’ve never heard of Bendigo, so I say ‘near Melbourne’, and they all say, ‘when the Jade Buddha comes back to Bendigo, I’m coming to see it’.

“Now even if only half, or 10 per cent of these people come, you just can’t imagine the numbers of people that will come to (Bendigo) as a Buddhist pilgrimage place.”

So, while local residents may perceive their city is best known to outsiders for its gold rush past, art or good food and wine, a very different reputation is gaining momentum.

Work has not yet started on the "little Buddha city" but a model of the future site is on display at the visitor centre.

Construction of the residential area, or the ‘Lama Yeshe Village’, will start this year and there is already a waiting list of 30 people who are keen to move in.

The new dwellings are attracting a variety of buyers from retirees to young families.

A model of the future site. The two gold buildings near the Great Stupa are stupas of other Buddhist traditions. The small, white buildings are houses.

Environmental sustainability is a key feature of the new homes, which will be built in terrace style in blocks of six to improve insulation quality. They will have solar panels and double glazed windows.

Those who move into the Buddha city will not own the land, just the house.

“That way we will retain forever some sort of control over who lives here,” Mr Green said. “The idea is that we want people to be in accord with the Buddhist values. At the end of their life, ownership reverts back to the Stupa with the proceeds going to the person’s estate.

“As much as possible we want this place to be an example that others might follow in developing sustainable communities. We don’t want people locked up behind high walls either, we want them in a pedestrian friendly environment. We want them relating to each other.”